I recently acquired an '86 190d 2.5 5spd. I made an attempt to swap out my old fan clutch for a new one over the weekend. I used an 8mm allen head socket and breaker bar putting force in a counter clockwise rotation (this is a right hand threaded bolt right?) and did nothing but strip out the recessed allen bolt. I read some tips in an earlier post and would love to know which method is best for removing the stripped bolt.

I have a mig welder and could weld a bar to the bolt head to remove it - is this the easiest way - are there any precautions I need to heed before I start welding to prevent frying all of the engine electronics?

What about the jb weld an 8mm allen socket or similar sized torx socket into the stripped bolt head technique - does this really work?

Any engineering geniuses out there got a better technique for me to try?

can you fit some channel locks in there?

or maybe some form of an easy out or bolt out?

Well folks, the welding trick didn't work and neither did the jb weld trick. I ended up removing the radiator, cooling fan, etc and grinding the front of the fan clutch and bolt head completely off with a grinder - I felt accomplished when it finally came off, but what an endeavor....